


Polish Up the Crystal Prisms

by darkesky



Series: picking up the pieces [11]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Living Together, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 01:45:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17013207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkesky/pseuds/darkesky
Summary: Chloe knows how Kamski lived isn’t exactly normal. He insisted on a level of excellence not many people understood. Yet, all of the Chloes just went about their business in silence and lost themselves to the routine.But North’s solution to doing dishes is buying paper plates, and Josh refuses to use the bookshelf in a way that makes sense.---Cohabitation is surprisingly hard.





	Polish Up the Crystal Prisms

Josh sits on the couch, the book nestled into his lap. He licks his fingers to make sure he can flip through the pages. While working for Markus and handling the technological aspects of Jericho isn’t exactly a dream come true, he wouldn’t give it up quite yet. But he  _ needs  _ to do something more enriching than spending every waking hour on algorithms. 

He traces a finger over the passage on one of the more famous Shakespeare sonnets. If he ever told North he worked as an  _ English  _ assistant, he’s certain he’d never survive her teasing. At the moment, she presumes something like science… And he’d like to keep it that way.

Before he can even finish the stanza he currently reads, the front door slams open. “What up, bitches?”

“Why do you always greet us like that? And Chloe isn’t home from Hank’s house yet.” Josh is careful not to tear his eyes from the words. If he didn’t finish it, then he’ll end up looking it up online. The  _ second  _ he chooses to do that, he’ll be screwed. It’s not as genuine if he reads it from the internet.

North lets out a low whistle. “Damn, girl’s got game.”

“Mhm.” He lets out the hum before he can stop himself, completely disregarding her comment. He’s  _ incredibly  _ close to finishing now. Right as Josh stumbles across the final line, he feels North jump onto the couch. It rattles the fragile furniture, and Josh lowers it to glare at her. 

She immediately slaps the book out of his hands. It skitters across the carpet before falling limp against the wooden leg of the table. “You’re such a  _ nerd.” _

He was on the  _ last line.  _

“North, I’m too busy to deal with your games right now.” He rises to his feet and grabs his thin book of sonnets. Tucking it beneath his arm, he starts to head back to his bedroom. 

Groaning, the other android leaps over the back of the couch. She blocks his path and pouts. “Don’t be such a  _ buzzkill.  _ All you do is read.”

“I  _ don’t  _ read at Jericho. I do what feels like busy work for  _ hours,  _ so I want to spend my time doing something I enjoy.” Josh rolls his eyes and tries to duck around her. The apartment’s not that big. He’s  _ certain  _ she will start blaring the TV full blast the second he gets to his room.

North looks offended, wrinkling her nose at him. “Um, what the  _ fuck?  _ I thought we were friends. And if we were friends, then you’d  _ enjoy  _ spending time talking to me, Josh.”

“I spent three hours in a meeting with you today. We’ve  _ hung out,”  _ stresses Josh. Once more, he tries to dodge around her. This time, though, she lunges out and snags the book from him again. Dancing backwards, she reads the cover of the book out loud and immediately bursts out laughing.

Lifting an eyebrow, she tries to contain her snorts long enough to form a coherent sentence. “You read  _ Shakespeare?  _ Holy shit, this increased your nerdiness by, like,  _ ten thousand!” _

“I’m going to my bedroom. Can you stop  _ bothering  _ me?” He goes to grab for his book one last time, and she lets out a peel of laughter before dodging once more. 

She flips it open to a random page, reading from a sonnet.  _ “‘Love is not love’?  _ What is this bullshit? You seriously read from some old white dude still? Sorry, some old  _ human  _ white dude?”

“Shakespeare was an incredible writer. North, can you just give me my book of poetry back?” Finally, Josh leans back against the wall and crosses his arms. He’s obviously not going to chase North around the apartment,  _ his apartment,  _ just to try and steal it back. 

Is it even stealing considering it belongs to him in the first place?

North throws it haphazardly at him and shrugs. “Fine, I don’t care. I need to catch up on the  _ Fast and Furious  _ movies anyway.”

“Don’t listen to it loudly,” he mutters beneath his breath before retreating to his bedroom. Eventually, Chloe will get back home and convince North to stop being so  _ annoying.  _ Until then, though, he’s not certain anyone can really stop her, barring Markus. And inviting Markus to their apartment feels wrong on  _ so many levels. _

\---

Chloe knows how Kamski lived isn’t exactly  _ normal.  _ He insisted on a level of excellence not many people understood. His own  _ brother  _ detested the way Kamski needed the floors to be spotless and the wallpaper to be absolutely perfect. Yet, all of the Chloes just went about their business in silence and lost themselves to the routine.

She also knows North and Josh never had  _ homes  _ before. If she shared a house with Simon or Markus or Kara, she’s certain they’d understand how to maintain it. They had to clean up after their masters just as much as she did. 

But North’s solution to doing dishes is buying paper plates, and Josh refuses to use the bookshelf in a way that  _ makes sense. _

“Can you lift your feet?” Chloe asks as politely as possible as she runs the vacuum, the familiar whirl comforting her agitated nerves. Both Josh and North sit on the couch, watching some old documentary about androids. North mocks the ones appearing on screen while Josh studies them analytically, and it makes her skin  _ crawl. _

Especially considering she’ll appear in this particular documentary eventually.

Josh turns, and he chews on his bottom lip. “Maybe… Can you vacuum later? I really want to hear this part.”

“We scheduled Saturday as the day we can clean up around the house… You don’t let me clean any other day.” Chloe struggles to keep her tone as neutral as possible. Every other day this week, they’ve managed to dissuade her from doing household chores. Yet, Chloe would  _ hate  _ to deal with an utter pigpen for the next month because she can’t stick to her guns.

North makes a face at her. “Okay, but we’re  _ androids.  _ We can live in filth and not get sick.”

“It doesn’t mean we need to.” Chloe levels a glare at her before clearing her throat once more. “Can you pick up your legs?”

“Fine. Be fast.” Pulling her feet to her chest, she slams the bottom of her grimy boots against the couch. Chloe resists the urge to scream right then and there. Josh doesn’t even notice as he leans forward, sending the bucket of popcorn cascading to the ground. 

Swallowing hard, Chloe pushes the vacuum underneath their feet. All it does is push the popcorn kernels to the other side of the carpet. The other side she already neatly  _ vacuumed.  _ So, now Chloe needs to sweep up the kernels and then vacuum again to make sure no crumbs are left behind. 

It’s not like either of  _ them  _ will clean up after themselves. And it’s not like this is her only day off this week, and it’s not like she has some kind of pseudo date with Connor after this. 

Nope, Chloe loves spending her free time picking up after her roommates.

Somehow, she manages to lose herself to the rhythm of the vacuum cleaner. In an effort to  _ completely  _ drown in her own thoughts, she turns off her audio receptors briefly. Then, Chloe plays out different scenarios about how to impress Connor with what she wears tonight. 

They’re going out to the restaurant as  _ friends.  _ However, most people who go there don’t go with the intention of just being  _ friendly.  _ They go for dates, and they go for anniversaries. 

Then again, Chloe heard Connor only invited her because someone gave him a voucher at the station. He didn’t know who else to invite considering this  _ definitely  _ wasn’t the kind of place you could take Hank. But… Maybe it’s childish for Chloe to fantasize a date, but she’s certain eventually she can go on one. 

She’d ask North about how dates work, but it’s obviously North doesn’t like talking about her relationship unless  _ she’s  _ the one to bring it up. And the only other people she’d feel broaching the topic with would be the other RT600s back at Kamski’s house but… While Campbell might accept her with open arms, she doubts the middle Chloe will.

Startling out of her fog, she notes the part of the documentary slows to. Chloe sighs as she turns her audio receptor back on, tugging on her earlobe awkwardly. “One of the perks of being the first android is that I’m the focus of most of the early documentaries about androids.”

“Wow-”

“It makes me really uncomfortable to watch the early footage of my creation. So I’m going to go to my room.” Chloe slams her foot back down the vacuum power switch. Then, she unplugs it from the wall and brings it back to the shared bedroom between her and North. 

\---

North doesn’t have a  _ ton  _ of pet peeves. She’s pretty sure she’s the  _ definition  _ of a bad roommate. After all, North leaves her mess everywhere, she’s  _ always  _ loud and oversharing, and she doesn’t leave them alone for long. Instead, she spends most of her time watching the TV when she gets home from New Jericho and begging them to do the same.

So, she puts up with a  _ lot  _ of their weird quirks because they put up with hers. Nonetheless, the last she expects is for Chloe to head for the door in  _ her  _ clothes.  _ North’s  _ off-the-shoulder shirt coupled with Chloe’s dark jeans but  _ North’s  _ steel-toed boots. 

“Whatcha wearing, Chlo?” drawls North, quickly shutting down the video chat to Markus. Her boyfriend laughs on the screen, waving goodnight to her before returning to cuddling with Simon on the couch. Her skin keeps  _ burning  _ every time she thinks about them growing closer at night when she stays stubbornly in their apartment. But every time she thinks about spending the night  _ with  _ them, she wants to puke. Whatever she wants has been completely obscured by  _ this thing  _ from the past.

Chloe pauses by the window mounted near their front door, tousling her blonde hair dramatically. Pouting for her reflection in the glass, she giggles and pauses. “I have a  _ possible  _ date tonight.”

“But  _ I  _ don’t. So why the  _ fuck  _ do my  _ clothes  _ have a date?” North struggles to keep her face as passive as possible before she’s practically spitting out each word.

Freezing, Chloe stares down at her attire. “Oh. I figured you’d be okay with sharing. You haven’t worn these boots since you moved  _ in _ , and I thought I could take it out for a test run. And… I really want to look  _ different  _ from usual. I always look like this delicate flower, and you always look really  _ tough.” _

“Loving the compliments.” Mockingly, North raises her hands and starts clapping. “But it’s still my clothes, and I’m not sure I want you to borrow them when you’re going out with  _ Robo-cop.” _

“Wait. So it’d make a difference who I’m going out with?” Chloe props her hands on her hips and glares at North.

Snorting, she lifts an eyebrow. “Are you kidding me? This isn’t about me  _ shaming  _ your kinda boyfriend, but if it was, he  _ kinda  _ deserves it. Remember how he tried to get every deviant  _ imprisoned?” _

“Remember how he saved every deviant possible in the Cyberlife Tower?” Chloe replies sharply. Already, she begins to tug off North’s shoes to kick back at her. “Fine, I’m sorry. I just assumed you’d be okay with sharing.”

“Why would I have  _ shared  _ with you?” North raises an eyebrow. 

The other android pauses before she yanks on her own boots, the fluffy faux fur already kicking up around her calves. “Because you share  _ everything  _ with us. We share a  _ room.” _

“Doesn’t mean we share clothing.” North takes one last look at her shirt before glancing back to Chloe. “If it makes you feel better, though, I haven’t washed that since the last time I wore it. And like, that day I went braless, so you’re touching-”

“I’m already changing!” And Chloe practically  _ runs  _ back to their bedroom.

\---

Josh pulls the blanket tighter about him, offering a tiny smile to the two girls on either side of him. “If you would have told me I’d have two dates on a Saturday night, I would have thought you were lying. Then again, that’s typically what North does so…”

“Why have a date when you can have a Josh?” Chloe mumbles as she sips the milkshake she picked up at the Chicken Feed on the way back from her ‘fancy date’. He knows it  _ must  _ not have gone well. Chloe came back with three milkshakes and plopped down on the couch, waiting for North to emerge from her bedroom to watch the movie. 

North lifts her cup immediately, grinning. “Amen to Josh, being the  _ best  _ man we’ve ever known and the rest of them being dicks!”

“Are you calling Markus a dick?” Josh tries to hide his amusement but fails when the laugh shakes loose. 

The other girl grins. “Shut up and enjoy the movie. That’s the best you’ll get to a compliment from me.”

“And trust me, I  _ love  _ it.” Josh still lapses into silence and obeys. As much as the three of them  _ frustrate  _ each other, they can always depend on each other for the lazy moments in the early morning. So… They can figure out their differences later.

Right now, Josh is going to shut up and enjoy the movie. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> okay okay okay i know this is a TOTAL fluff piece. i wasn't sure if i should write it at all, but finals is this week, and i just needed some fluff in my life. I might end up taking it down later, but I planned to write something for these three in their apartment for months.


End file.
